Evolution of an Enterprise, Chapter 23: Brewing Big Business

Cody Hamilton was walking down Commercial Street in the spring when he discovered theworkshop 308’s design studio at 308 W. Commercial St.

He told his father about it, figuring theworkshop’s unique furniture designs might be appealing, given Jim Hamilton’s plans to open a coffeehouse in Springfield with friend Tom Billionis.

Over the next two months, as Hamilton and Billionis developed their coffeehouse concept, they realized that theworkshop 308 could do more than just build a couple pieces of furniture. So, in June, Hamilton walked into theworkshop to meet with owners Jason Mitchell and Michael Mardis.

Now, Mitchell and Mardis are building furniture and doing branding work, including the logo, for The Coffee Ethic LLC, the coffeehouse Hamilton and Billionis are planning to open in early November at 124 Park Central Square.

Hamilton and Billionis are leasing about 1,600 square feet in the Kresge building on the south side of the square. Developer Craig Wagoner of Brentwood Management Co. is renovating the 26,000-square-foot Kresge building, which will have nine lofts on the second floor and a Springfield-Greene County Library District location on the first floor.

An internal doorway will connect The Coffee Ethic to the library.

“What they have in mind is just really progressive, and it’s worked really well with what Michael, Natalie (Mardis) and I are trying to do as a company,” Mitchell said of The Coffee Ethic. “We’re in the same place as they are. We’re all starting a business from scratch. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but it feels pretty good, and it seems like the right thing to do.”

Mitchell said this is theworkshop’s biggest contract to date, calling it a “huge stepping stone for us.” Hamilton wouldn’t disclose the amount Mitchell and Mardis are being paid, though he said it was thousands of dollars.

Theworkshop’s other recent large contract was for a house design for Marti Montgomery, who also requested the contract value remain undisclosed.

Design work on the house, to be built on 47 acres in Webster County between Northview and Rogersville, is nearly complete.

Before The Coffee Ethic and Montgomery’s house projects, Mitchell and Mardis found a niche building business fixtures and unique home furnishings on a smaller scale. Out of that crop of work, highlights included a $4,600 display rack for Staxx Apparel, 331 South Ave., and a $4,700 package of two workstations and a front counter for Prix Tattoo, 420 S. Campbell Ave.

While some infill work has begun on The Coffee Ethic, final designs, as well as agreements with suppliers and subcontractors, should be in place within the next month.

The Coffee Ethic is the brainchild of Billionis, who will move to Springfield from Arizona in October after working for more than 10 years as an area representative for Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

“I’ve … for the last 12 or 13 years, been attracted to the culture surrounding the coffee shops,” Billionis said, citing the community that the culture builds and the opportunity it provides to interact with people.

Hamilton, who met Billionis while working for FCA in Wyoming, moved this summer from Montana, where he worked as a high school teacher, coach and administrator. Billionis and Hamilton chose Springfield because Hamilton’s children live in Springfield and Billionis’ family lives in the Midwest.

They chose the name The Coffee Ethic, according to Hamilton, because they want to adhere to three ethical principals: quality coffee, respect for customers and coffee growers, and environmental friendliness.

They will pay at least fair-trade prices for coffee, use cups made of recycled material and build furniture with wood reclaimed from January’s ice storm, among other efforts. The reclaimed wood is being supplied by Mount Vernon-based Rescued & Reclaimed Lumber LLC.

Though Mudhouse, a well-established coffee shop at 323 South Ave., is just a couple blocks south of where The Coffee Ethic will operate, Hamilton and Billionis feel that the downtown market can support both coffee shops, especially with increased traffic from the future openings of Heer’s and College Station.

And, if The Coffee Ethic is successful, Hamilton said they would like to open additional locations in the region, which could mean more work for theworkshop.

“Philosophically, we love what they’re doing,” Hamilton said of Mitchell and Mardis. “We want to be unique, and they’re trying to do some really creative, unique things. Their philosophy on using renewable, reusable, recyclable products and caring for the earth matches (us) really well.

“I’m a redhead, Jason’s a redhead. We just kind of hit it off.”

This story was clarified on Sept. 10, 2007.